America Reframed

Updated Fri, Aug 31, 2012 4:33 pm

Sunday, September 9 at 8 p.m.
"Chisholm '72- Unbought & Unbossed"
In 1968, Shirley Chisholm becomes the first black woman elected to Congress. In 1972, she becomes the first black woman to run for President. Shunned by the political establishment, she's supported by a motley crew of blacks, feminists and young voters. Their campaign-trail adventures are frenzied, fierce, and fundamentally right on! After the 2004 elections, her story reminds all Americans that, in Chisholm's words, "the institutions of this country belong to all of the people who inhabit it."

Sunday, September 16 at 8 p.m.
"Street Fight"
This program follows the turbulent campaign of Cory Booker, a 32-year-old Rhodes Scholar/Yale Law graduate running for mayor of Newark, New Jersey, against Sharpe James, the four-term incumbent twice his age. An urban David and Goliath story, the film chronicles the young man's struggle against the city's entrenched political machine, which routinely uses strong-arm tactics to hold onto power. The battle sheds light on important questions about democracy, power, poverty and race. When the mayor accuses the Ivy League-educated challenger of not being "really black," the campaign forces voters to examine how they define race in America.

Sunday, September 23 at 8 p.m.
"La Americana"
When nine-year-old Carla suffers a life-threatening accident, her mother, Carmen, must leave her behind and make the dangerous and illegal journey from Bolivia to the U.S., where she hopes to earn enough to save her daughter's life. Working in New York to support Carla's medical needs, Carmen struggles in vain to legalize her immigration status, and wrestles with the prospect of never seeing her daughter again. Then, after six years of separation, Congress proposes "amnesty" legislation that could allow Carmen and Carla to be reunited at last. Filmed across three countries in a captivating cinematic narrative, LA AMERICANA is Carmen's story, and the story of millions of illegal immigrants who must leave their families behind to pursue the elusive American dream.

Sunday, September 30 at 8 p.m.
"Push: Madison Vs. Madison"
Madison Park Vocational High School, Boston, Massachusetts. This documentary film chronicles the stories surrounding the players of an inner-city high school basketball team over the course of a potentially historic season. It is as much about the challenges facing inner-city youth and the public school system, as it is about a school's passion for basketball and a coach's devotion to his players. The Madison Park Cardinals are a dysfunctional, but talented high school hoops team, sprung up from the Boston streets and playgrounds. For the players on the team, basketball is oftentimes their escape, their crutch, and their way forward. In the center of this kettle of hope and chaos is Coach Dennis Wilson, a unique hero for our times. A former semi-professional player, philosophizing history teacher and disciplinarian, Coach Wilson chants, harasses and cajoles his charges onto the court and in his classroom as a way to instill lessons that go beyond winning and losing. In the midst of a 19-0 season, on the eve of the state tournament, life for the MP Cardinals, players, coaches, family, and friends, proves to be anything but ordinary. As players struggle to stay in school and on the team, a slew of obstacles oppose them, from poverty to academics, from neighborhood rivalries to city-wide tragedies, they put to trial the team's season motto: "The only team that can beat Madison, is Madison." Before the end of the last whistle and as the team heads into the its' final regular season games and tournament showdowns, MP Pride will be sorely tested.

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